{"id":1118,"date":"2015-08-04T08:52:31","date_gmt":"2015-08-04T08:52:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/?p=1118"},"modified":"2015-08-04T09:00:10","modified_gmt":"2015-08-04T09:00:10","slug":"a-purr-fect-destination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/a-purr-fect-destination\/","title":{"rendered":"A purr-fect destination"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Catwoman would have been happy.<\/p>\n

Filipinos have a\u2026 touchy relationship with cats. Yes, there are lots who love them, that\u2019s for sure. But \u2013 for someone like me, for instance, who grew up in the province \u2013 we have numerous stories to tell about cats; and these stories are not necessarily nice, e.g. that an aswang<\/em> (a monstrous character in Filipino folklore) can turn into a cat (usually black in color); that if a cat jumps over a coffin containing a corpse, that corpse will re reanimated; and that if you bathe a cat, a storm will surely come.<\/p>\n

But considering that many studies have cited numerous\u00a0health benefits derived from petting and interacting with companion animals<\/a> (e.g. cats), I’d say our\u00a0relationship with cats is… skewed.<\/p>\n

And\u00a0\u2013 Hey, considering that there\u2019s even a musical named after them! \u2013 cats are, as the clich\u00e9 goes, here to stay for sure; and are even just continuing to be beloved.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no surprise that, to provide cat-lovers (or even the cat-curious), avenues to be with cats, cat caf\u00e9s have been popping up everywhere \u2013 starting in 1998 when the first such theme caf\u00e9 was opened in Taiwan.<\/p>\n

And then the cat\u2026 craze reached the shores of Cebu this January, when the city\u2019s first cat caf\u00e9 was opened.<\/p>\n

And so welcome to Cebu City\u2019s \u2013 not-too-creatively named \u2013 Cat Caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n

Apparently, the caf\u00e9 had only five cats (of Persian and American Shorthair breeds) when it started operating, with the cats, as one of the \u201ccat ladies\u201d working in the venue said, \u201cextras\u201d of the pets of the cat-loving owners. The five cats were \u201cenough\u201d, considering that the original caf\u00e9 (not the \u201cmain\u201d caf\u00e9), wasn\u2019t that big a place, and could only hold up to 14 people.<\/p>\n

By March, when the \u201cextension\u201d to the caf\u00e9 was opened beside the main caf\u00e9 (this extension can accommodate up to 10 people), the number of cats grew to 15 \u2013 nine of them male, and six females. Nowadays, the main caf\u00e9 has two cats, with the number of the pets there kept to a minimum because \u201cthat\u2019s where food is prepared\u201d. The rest of the cats are in the extension caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n

Cat curious?<\/p>\n

Then get to know Chong, Cotton, Bubblegum, Shogun, Samurai, Smoke, Hunter, Macmode, Pumpkin, Thunder, Lola, Ninja, Kush, Cheech, and Boogie.<\/p>\n

Most mainly just lounge\/lazily lie there, acting like the stereotypical \u201csnobs\u201d cats are deemed to be, occasionally giving the people\/us non-felines tired looks. But then, some do stuffs \u2013 e.g. eating, scratching, drinking\u2026 and even fucking (though I was surprised that they did so sans the usually accompanying noise heard when pusakal<\/em>\/street cats engage in sexual acts).<\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing to worry about the cats, we were told. They\u2019ve been vacc\u2019d; they\u2019ve been toilet-trained; they don\u2019t steal the customers\u2019 food. All good and well.<\/p>\n

By the way, since this is a caf\u00e9, how\u2019s the food?<\/p>\n

I\u2019d say not bad \u2013 even if the choices are limited. The salads are, for the lack of words, pretty common \u2013 e.g. Tuna Salad (P180), Vegetable Salad (P110), and Taco Salad (P185). There are only two hot drinks \u2013 i.e. cappuccino (P50), and mochaccino (P50). There are only two frappes \u2013 i.e. cappuccino frappe (P95), and strawberry frappe (P110), and the latter isn\u2019t always available after selling out. The desserts are surprisingly delectable \u2013 e.g. mango cheesecake (P85), banana split (P130), cupcakes (P50).<\/p>\n

Suffice it to say, though, that while the food isn\u2019t at all bad, that\u2019s not necessarily why you\u2019d come here.<\/p>\n

After all, not everyone can put up with the\u2026 stench that numerous cats emit when they are gathered in one place. Not everyone can put up with the furballs (or even just the floating hair) that pets tend to release. And for that matter, not everyone can even appreciate the softness\/fluffiness of cats (e.g. I know someone who is literally scared to feel a cat, claiming that a cat\u2019s softness scares her). So, obviously, this isn\u2019t a place that everyone can appreciate.<\/p>\n

But for those who just love cats, or at least are cat-curious\u2026 well, this one is a must-visit, indeed.<\/p>\n

Cat Caf\u00e9 is located beside Villa Fatima Subdivision, V. Rama Street corner Bacaio Street, Guadalupe, Cebu City.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Zest Magazine checks out Cebu City\u2019s only cat caf\u00e9 (that is, a theme caf\u00e9 with cats as part of the \u2013 if not the main \u2013 attraction) to find that, while this isn\u2019t necessarily a place for everyone, it\u2019s worth checking particularly for the cat lovers\/feline curious.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1128,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3,7],"tags":[676,677,678,679],"class_list":["post-1118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-destinations","category-spotlight","category-travel","tag-cat-cafe","tag-cat-cafe-cebu","tag-cat-cafe-cebu-city","tag-cebu-cuty"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1118"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1130,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1118\/revisions\/1130"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}